Finally
by The-Aquamarine-Amulet
Summary: What better way to name this story?


**I do not own Shugo Chara! or its characters. All copyright goes to Peach-Pit.**

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**Finally**

The incandescent ball of fire reached its peak and finally disappeared from the sky. As the hours slowly passed, the lines of colors dissolved into a swirl of silver bells. In the midst of clouds, which cleared away came a large luminescent sphere that glowed an almost blue.

A boy of seventeen, sat there waiting. The glow produced by the moonlight was even more potent against his midnight blue hair. He gazed patiently at the moon, his blue eyes sparkling like saphires.

He could sense his violin case, propped up against the bench of where he sat. As patient as he could afford to be, it seemed as if the time was dragging him helplessly into the blue abyss. Even his guardian character Yoru at his side, who kept glancing nervously every which-way, mostly at him and the moon. His violin case didn't help as he waited for his pink haired beauty with eyes a shade of amber.

He smirked at this thought. He never considered her beautiful like Utau. Even after Utau's constant attempts to claim him, he could never compare Amu to Utau no matter how much he loved either. Utau was, of course, beautiful but he just considered Amu very pretty. Very and extremely pretty, that on rare occasions she would make his heart ache. She only needed to take about one step to be beautiful. Yet if she did, she could never compare to Utau.

And Amu knew how much he loved her. Even since Tokyo Tower, she had been well aware of his feelings for her. Even his past memories. Amu even took the liberty to be nicer to him. With good reason. Suppose it had been someone else, he would've been outraged saying he didn't want their pity. Although deep down, he was begging for forgiveness. He couldn't help himself. He didn't want to suffer alone anymore. He was glad that it was Amu of all people.

Even though she was currently aware, she never got to the point of how she felt about _him_. It nagged him constantly. Sometimes, the suspense would be so painful that he would wish to shake Amu to get her to confess. Although, even if he got most of this pain during this whole chapter of his life, he knew Amu had a lot to take in. It would be natural for a girl of twelve to think of other things other than her feelings for a boy five years older than her. Especially after she just survived a raging battle under Tokyo Tower.

So he would wait. Forever if had to. He would let Amu choose. Even if he had to survive fifty years of marriage between Tadase and Amu, he would wait. No matter what. It was _her_ choice. And he respected that.

A flash of pink was spotted from the corner of his eye. A huge delighted smile crept across his face as he watched that familiar delicate figure approach him.

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"Ikuto!" I called out, breathless from the discreet marathon I had with myself since I left the house. I knew Dad would never approve but of course Mom always know what I'm up to and she approved. (I would like to thank God and Christ for making my mother see sense. It means so much to me.) As long as I was back by ten. It was only 8:30 P.M at the moment, as I noted on my watch.

My characters trailed behind me. Tonight, they'd keep their distance. They always knew when to give Ikuto space and me. Even Yoru who was overly protective of Ikuto now, knew when to stop. Not that we did anything naughty but we had this silent connection that needed to no words describing. My characters described as, so pure that they felt that the moment was so private that they had to look away. Even though weren't _doing_ anything but gazing at each other or holding hands.

Unlike his irritating smirk and the sardonic humor Ikuto once held in his eyes, he was much kinder now. His smiles (no longer smirks) were tender and his eyes held true happiness. At least that's what his reaction/expression/emotion was with me around. I didn't know if he was different around anyone else because I never did see him anyone else. Lately.

When I reached him on the stone patio of the park, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Wait!" I interrupted him breathlessly. " I need. . . . I need. . . . to. . . . to um, . . . . I need to let. . . . my. . . . air circulation. . . . regenerate. . . ."

Ikuto shook his head in silent disagreement, picking me up and carrying me over to the bench. If I wasn't so out of breath, I would have thrashed in his arms demanding to let go of me. But now, summoning the remnants of my energy I squirmed against his hold. Proving to be futile.

As I slowly regained my strength, Ikuto watched me silently and other than the obvious happiness in his eyes, they were unreadable. He was well aware of me being alright, he didn't break his hold.

I felt perspiration on my nape. "Ikuto, you know you can let go of me now."

A small spot of sarcasm tinted his smile. "I know. But I don't want to."

I groaned. "Please. I'm not a baby. I'm a girl."

The sarcasm hadn't disappeared. "I noticed."

"Not bloody likely," I muttered under my breath. "Now will you please let go of me?"

I made myself comfortable on the bench, keeping only an inch as our personal space between us. That's when I noticed a familiar grey case at his side.

"You brought your violin?" I asked, knowing that my eyes lit up. _Yes!_ I hissed internally. _He brought his violin._

"Of course," Ikuto stated this obviously, pleased by my reaction. "I know you like it."

I ripped my eyes away from the violin case and looked straight into Ikuto's saphire blue ones. I smiled.

Out of nowhere, Ikuto's warm hand curled around mine. I sighed the bouts of a melancholy creeping on me. I savored Ikuto's warmth. I loved it when he held my hand. It made feel safe and that I could vanquish _anything. _At the back of my mind, I noted this was one of our moments and that the other five characters would now be looking away or doing something else to occupy them. Love does that to you, I guess.

After our episode, Ikuto pulled away from me and took out his violin, propping it on his shoulder ready to play immediately. Although when he looked back at me, that similar smirk came back. A part of me was glad he didn't lose that smirk although it was very minimal. Another part wanted to slap it off his face but a third part honestly didn't mind it.

"Are you ready to ruin my violin again with your horrible singing?" he teased.

That struck a nerve. "I'm not horrible! I have Dia! She's musically talented like I will be in the future!" I whined. I hated it when he criticized my singing. Life is so unfair. Dia reacted immediately to her name, as she tilted her head as she probed my face with her orange orb eyes.

I had curled up in a ball as he said this, my arms wrapped around my legs and I buried my face in my knees. It wasn't long before Ikuto had dragged me onto his lap, causing me to let go of my curling-up-in-a-ball position.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled but beneath that his apology seemed sincere enough. "I can't help but think it's funny."

I smiled. "Alright, I forgive you. Just please don't bring it up again?"

"Alright," he promised picking up his violin again. I stood up, my hands on my chest as I got ready to sing. Ikuto threw me one last tender smile before he face became emotionless as he played the violin.

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_Around 10 o'clock that night. . . ._

Ikuto glanced at the moon when we finished jamming. Well, not exactly jamming but. . . . as you know that I guess what you call a group of people combining their musical talents are doing. When were done, we realized we had about half an hour left so Ikuto just plopped me on his lap and wrapped his arms around me, keeping my legs warm. Of course, I was wearing the exact same outfit I wore the night I firsts discovered Ikuto could play the violin. _That was so long ago. . . . _a voice in the back of my murmured.

"You should start heading home," he reminded me. "I thought you said your mom wanted you home at ten and yet you're still here."

"I know," I sighed into his chest. "I can't help myself can I? It seems were not even separable."

As if in response to my comment, Ikuto's arms around me tightened. I could feel his eyes on my face. "You know if you keep a habit of this, your mom's going to get ideas."

I giggled against the fabric of his jacket. Ironic. It's happened on numerous occasions before, I recalled.

"Let's go, Amu," he urged, standing up. The eerie feeling of an empty space at my back frightened me and I almost felt like I would fall, until Ikuto arms held me securely again. I exhaled in relief. He let me down, walking in front of me like he always did. Yoru positioned himself on Ikuto's shoulder and I felt my characters trailing behind me.

The thing I kept reminding myself to do this entire week dawned on me and I felt my ears pound and my heartbeat quicken.

"U-Um, Ikuto?" I began, my stuttering making me even more nervous than I already was.

Either he was deliberately ignoring me or he just wasn't paying attention. Like all cats, I thought dryly.

"I want to tell you something." Good I wasn't stuttering. I was impressed. My voice was now clear with no trace of nervousness or embarrassment.

Still not paying attention. I groaned internally. _Ikuto! Please don't make this harder than it already is!_

"Ikuto. . . ." I took a deep breath. "I love you."

Wow. Unlike with Tadase, I was really neutral it almost scared me. Yet despite the calm façade with my voice, inside I was in turmoil. In some spots, it was worse than when I confessed to Tadase. That includes _every_ single time I confessed.

All Ikuto did was come to a stop. It was so sudden that I bounded straight into him.

"Amu-chan!" Ran cried, alarmed.

"Look out!" Miki screamed.

It took all four and all of their strength to steady me before my butt could smash against the hard pavement.

"Are you alright, Amu-chan?" Dia asked.

"You're not injured, are you?" Suu demanded with motherly concern.

"No. I'm fine," I assured them. "Thanks to you guys."

They let sighs of relief yet Suu still stared at me, her eyes of emeralds troubled.

When I looked back to Ikuto, he was staring at me, eyes wide and lips parted in shock. His face was unfathomable.

"Ikuto!?" I squeaked. "Are you okay?"

He said nothing for I don't know how long. His expression grew somber every second before he cut off eye contact with me all together.

"S-So," I stammered. "I th-thought you'd. . . . you'd like to know."

The blood finally flooded my cheeks. I couldn't think. Couldn't analyze sense into his reaction. And then his arms were around me, locking me to his chest. He said nothing. I hugged him back, feeling my eyes water. Finally.

END.

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**I sincerely hope that you all liked it. I think I'll be doing alot of these short Shugo Chara! fanfiction things. It's gonna be my new thing, I guess. ^_^ Anyways, I really hope I caught the aspects of the characters and presented them in a fashion that would really happen if Peach-Pit converted this with the manga. I actually deleted some parts that did _not _belong with their characters. I went along with my gut and reviewed it several times. I told myself _"Okay, if this was in the manga what would Peach-Pit have Ikuto and Amu do? What would Amu and Ikuto have themselves do?" _There were some aspects that I wrote that definitely did not go with my gut. They weren't totally off character but they weren't the exact personality I had captured from both characters from when I read the manga. If you notice _anything_ off character that I hadn't picked up please tell me, point out what you liked, tell me how well I captured the characters real personalities from the creators themselves and of course review. (If all of that isn't too much.) Oh and you can start by pressing the little green button right here. xD**

**Aqua**


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